Doug Lewars's Blog, page 53

Papercuts

Papercuts by Colin Bateman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

I can't say that this is a great book but it's pretty good and worth reading. The plot is pretty simple. A gentleman from a large news organization has been suspended pending an investigation and so is persuaded to take a job editing a small local newspaper that's hemorrhaging money. His job is either to turn it around or kill it. That by itself would be pretty thin but the plot is augmented by the various incidents that he and his reporters investigate and the interesting characters they meet. Some are humorous and some less so. I can't say that I broke into laughter while reading but the story was light and a pleasant way to wile away and evening.

Normally I like my endings nice and tidy but this was an exception. Actually few of the various subplots are resolved but I didn't find that as frustrating as in some novels. One gets the impression that life will somehow continue despite whatever the various characters do. Give it a shot. The author is pretty good at pacing, the dialog is well done and there was never a time I felt I had to walk away in frustration. I doubt it will ever win any literary awards but these days that may be more of a plus than a minus.



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Puckoon

Puckoon by Spike Milligan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

As long as you're aware that this book is a farce then it's a great read. The plot is thin. The pacing is so fast that you'll probably lose your place from time to time and it's difficult to keep up with the characters. That's fine. Just enjoy the ride and you'll have a few chuckles.



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Those Barren Leaves

Those Barren Leaves by Aldous Huxley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

This book is not easy reading.

1923 - 1925: These are the dates during which Those Barren Leaves was most likely written. At the time Huxley was publishing every two to three years so it seems reasonable that he wrote in between publishing dates. The First World War had been over for 5 years. Although some might have detected the first hints of problems in Germany, it is unlikely they'd be noticed by most people. Most people could view the world in a reasonably optimistic manner.

It was a time when the term 'classism' would have been considered ridiculous. Of course there were classes and it seemed perfectly reasonable for them to exist. In this book, Huxley deals exclusively with the upper class; and, in particular, the artistic class - its foibles and pretensions - and there are a LOT of pretensions. Set in a castle somewhere in Italy, Mrs. Aldwinkle gathers about her individuals she considers unique, intelligent and artistic. In fact, such talents as they have are mostly in their own minds. They imagine themselves to be the highest of the intelligentsia and it is this that Huxley satirizes so effectively. There were a number of places where I found myself chuckling, a number of places where I didn't understand what was going on and there were some that I found boring; nevertheless, for the most part I enjoyed the book - if only because in a couple of places he has some fun with writers and I enjoyed his wit.

This isn't a novel for everyone. There is a plot of sorts but the pacing is pretty slow. The characters are interesting mostly for their foibles. There's a little character development but not much. Dialog frequently consists of long rambling speeches. I think the reader needs a good deal of patience to work his or her way through this one. Being almost a hundred years old makes quite a difference in literary style and unless one is prepared to invest some time, it might be wise to take a pass here. I would not recommend this for reading on the subway. However, if you like to see satire wielded not with a sword but with the finest of scalpels then this might be what you're looking for.



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American War

American War by Omar El Akkad

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

In my opinion, if there is one thing an author has to do it’s to tell a good story and Omar El Akkad accomplishes that. These days, plot is out of favour among the modern intelligentsia. Needless to say I avoid as much as possible book by those authors.

It’s pretty clear that Mr. Akkad doesn’t much like the USA and that’s okay. A perk of being an author is to fillet people, institutions, societies, and in this case, an entire country in one’s work. The trick is to make it interesting. I’ve been reading nominees for the Evergreen award and this is one of the few authors who hasn’t sunk to self-indulgent pap to make his point.

There are a number of themes in the book the most notable being the emergence of civil war in the United States. Mr. Akkad makes use of the historical civil war to frame the combatants and he uses oil as the trigger point which seems a bit of a stretch but if he wants to work with a cut-and-dried war then he needs to have something to work with and I guess oil is as good as anything. He is, I believe, correct that America is sufficiently polarized these days that the country might devolve into violence but I suspect it wouldn’t be as clear cut as North against South. There are plenty of right-wing extremists in the North just as there are a many left-wing extremists in the south so geographical boundaries don’t quite work. Still, he wanted this story to be set against a background of civil war and so used a combination of oil and climate change to accomplish that.

In the process of telling the story of Sarat, he tries to paint a picture of what is happening in the Middle East by turning everything around. In this future, the Middle East and North Africa have united into an empire and they are sending both aid and arms to a United States that is in economic ruin. We don’t know if this is true for the North but the South has certainly fallen on hard times. One thing I had a bit of a problem with is that prior to the fictional civil war or in the first year of that war, Mexico annexed a huge portion of the United States and, apparently got away with it. I found that a little unbelievable but it wasn’t actually a large part of the story so I guess Mr. Akkad was just having a bit of revenge on those who want to build a wall.

I was particularly impressed by Mr. Akkad’s ability to change the protagonist from Sarat to her nephew Benjamin late in the story and do it so seamlessly that I didn’t find it the least bit jarring. Doing something like that is the mark of a good author.

Much of the world building is pretty vague. We learn very little about northern society and the south is so fractured that it’s difficult to understand. The author focuses on his central characters and the rest of the world it pretty loosely sketched out.

Some critics of this book suggest that what it lacks is redemption. It appears they would like Sarat to overcome her hatred, to rise above her torture, to surrender the past and enter some sort of forgiveness mentality. Frankly I was glad to see her go down swinging. She is accused of ‘tribalism’, of putting family first. Some consider this blasphemous. I consider it quite reasonable.

During the course of the novel the author dedicates about a page to taking a shot at older members of society. I didn’t care for it but I consider it fair game nonetheless. At least he worked it into the story in such a way that it didn’t stand out and he didn’t dwell on the subject. Yes, he doesn’t like America and he doesn’t like older people and there are a number of other things he doesn’t like but he doesn’t stand around on a soapbox preaching. I can forgive a great deal if an author knows how to tell a story.

Frankly I quite enjoyed this one. Perhaps that’s because I’ve been stuck with plotless authors for so long that to find someone who can tell a story is a treat. In any event, I totally recommend it to anyone who likes dystopian fiction and who isn’t overly wedded to a happy ending.




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The Clothesline Swing

The Clothesline Swing by Ahmad Danny Ramadan

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

I'm currently working my way through the list of nominees for the Evergreen Awards and this was one of the books on the list. Had I picked it up at random from the library I would have marked it did-not-finish after 40 pages but I somehow waded through the entire thing. It took me 5.75 hours and it was the most boring 5.75 hours I've spent in years. It was unremitting self-indulgent drivel. There is next to no plot. Basically the story consists of a couple of senior men who have been partners for many years and one of them is dying. The other tells the first man stories that are reflective of their past. Sometimes the stories are about one, sometimes the other. Sometimes the storyteller uses symbolism for whomever his is making as his protagonist. The stories are short and not particularly interesting.

The book is almost entirely written in the second person and the storyteller speaks to his companion and Death who is a character - not done nearly as well as Terry Pratchett but a character nonetheless.

It's supposed to be searingly truthful recollections of a past of conflict in Syria, strife in Lebanon and persecution in Egypt. Because these men are gay it seems that every hand is against them. Finally they seek refuge in Vancouver Canada where they sit around whining about how hard their life has been. The only people who might want to read this book are members of the LGBTQ movement and even they might regard it as a waste of time. It is, however, easy to judge. Go to Chapter 1 and read five pages. The author's style never changes after that so I you can stomach 5 pages you can stomach the rest. If you don't like that much then you won't like the book because it doesn't get better. Frankly I wouldn't recommend it for anyone although I've seen quite a few 4 and 5 star ratings so I guess some people like this kind of thing. It is definitely not for me.



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Forever Rumpole

Forever Rumpole: The Best of the Rumpole Stories by John Mortimer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

John Mortimer died in 2009. Although this book was published in 2011 and is a collection of his shorter works, I don't seen any reference to an editor so I think the stories were selected by Mr. Mortimer himself.

Although this is a work of short stories, they range mostly between 30 and 40 pages so they aren't all that short; nevertheless, they are interesting to read. There wasn't one that I would suggest was out of place in the book. A few pages of what would have been a novel had Mr. Mortimer lives were included at the end and I doubt that the author had anything to do with that but I suspect he chose the rest. They portray Rumpole at his best, irascible, sly, witty, and frequently at odds with the judges he faces.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would highly recommend it. Not being in the legal profession myself I can't say how close the author comes to the reality of the court system in Britain, and, frankly, some of it seems a little questionable; but this is a work of fiction so I think a few liberties might be taken. For those who are taken with character arcs or more modern trends in writing this may not be an ideal book but for everyone who likes seeing a mystery unraveled I recommend it.



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All We Leave Behind

All We Leave Behind: A Reporter's Journey Into the Lives of Others by Carol Off

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


*** Potential Spoilers ***

If you are politically left of center, I believe you will like this book and I recommend it. If you are politically right you may still want to read it. This is almost two books in one. First there is the background story of what went on in Afghanistan - the warlords, the Taliban, US and Canadian intervention. It seems to be well researched and I found it to be an eye-opener. I knew there were warlords. I also knew that the Taliban was a brutal, fundamentalist Islamic sect that treated both women and men poorly - with special attention doled out to the women - and was in bed with terrorists. What I learned was that the growth of the Taliban was in response to the brutality of the warlords who were just as bad if not worse. The lives of those living in that country who were just trying to live an normal existence were terrible. I also learned that both the US and Canada's ham-fisted attempts to make things better had, to a large extent, backfired. That was the interesting and informative part of the book.

The second part consists of political polemic targeted at persuading, or possibly shaming, Canadians into taking a more open-door approach to refugee resettlement. This part of the book is what passes for journalism at the CBC. Find a single instance of a refugee family that might be sympathetic and then push their trials and tribulations as a means of leveraging support for all refugees everywhere. Personally I regard this as schlock journalism and it cuts both ways. The CBC and other left-wing outlets uses it to promote causes on the left and enterprises such as Fox or Breibart do exactly the same thing on the right. I suppose it sells advertising or, in the case of the CBC, obtains funding from the Liberal government. Having said that, I have to admit that Carol Off is good at her craft. She may be following the CBC and Liberal party line, but she knows how to craft a narrative that is interesting to read. In addition, although she doesn't point fingers, she alludes to a great deal of mismanagement or downright corruption in UN agencies. (She also rails against the Harper Conservatives but that's par for the course and just noise.) There is some suggestion that one road to obtaining refugee status - albeit and expensive one - runs through criminal organizations in Moscow. I doubt that Ms. Off intended it, but what I concluded from reading that part of her book was that Canada would be better off scrapping its UN refugee obligations altogether along with involvement in all but the core UN functions. As an organization, I was left with zero confidence in most of the UN.

As I noted above, if you're left of center you'll love this book. If you're on the right, you'll find the background material interesting and probably educational. The 'struggle' to sponsor a refugee family to Canada is a little tedious but overall I found the book to flow nicely as I read it. As long as you understand that you're going to be subject to what passes for journalism at the CBC I think I can recommend reading it.



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The Serpent of Venice

The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

If you regard Shakespeare as being sacred then you might want to give this book a pass. Christopher Moore takes 'The Merchant of Venice' along with 'Othello' and weaves them into a tale of merriment in which the fool from 'King Lear' is the key player. As an added bonus he also adds a little Edgar Allen Poe to the mix. Occasionally bits of dialogue sound like Shakespeare so I think he probably worked in a number of direct quotes along the way.

This is the second book in a series. Since there are plenty of plays left he might be tempted to do a third. I quite enjoyed this book. Don't look for Shakespearean tragedy even though Othello is one. Christopher Moore does comedy and he does it quite well.



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The Cackle of Cthulhu

The Cackle of Cthulhu by Alex Shvartsman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

A collection of short stories taking a whimsical look at the Cthulhu myth is a great way to wile away a warm lazy summer afternoon while sitting beside a lake. Some stories were more humorous than others but they were all entertaining. This is a fun book but if you're looking for the horror genre then this isn't it.



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Secondhand Souls

Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

As is common with Christopher Moore, this is a story of whimsy set among the trappings of the supernatural. He makes use of a couple of Egyptian deities, the Valkyrie along with a dash of Buddhism to get the pot bubbling nicely and then rounds it off with some quirky characters.

This is the second book in what may become a series and it's probably best to read them in order because there are a lot of references to events that occurred in the previous story. It was quite some time since I read it so I had some difficulty sorting out who was who. Most of the characters I remembered but there were a few of whom I had no recollection.

Don't look for any deep or philosophical themes here. Likewise don't look for significant character arcs. What you see is pretty much what you get. The story is light, humorous, and fun.

I found the plot a bit convoluted in the early going but that might have been because I'd been away from the first book for so long. It wasn't clear to me where he was going as he seemed to bounce from character to character without any real plot development but if you stick it out, everything comes together nicely. I highly recommend this one.



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